We've received reports from customers that indicate problems embedding the Flash Player ActiveX control into non-browser applications with our 12/28 release (version 20.0.0.267). This can be manifested by either white or black screens where the Flash content should be displayed or COM errors and exceptions.

We're investigating these reports with the highest priority. We apologize to those effected by this inadvertent change in behavior and we hope to make a solution available as soon as possible. I'll be keeping this thread updated with the latest findings and will continue to provide updates on a regular basis.

For those impacted, please see the bug reports below if you'd like to add your comments to our investigation.

Adobe made available Flash Player ActiveX 20.0.0.270 for Windows XP through Windows 7. This update was pushed out automatically via our auto update system and most customers should have received the update by January 3rd. The update was also made available for manual install from https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

January 5, 2016 -

Microsoft has updated Flash Player 20.0.0.272 ActiveX for Windows 10. This update, KB3133431, has been made available to Windows 10 users via the Windows Update mechanism.

January 5, 2016 (#2)

I've heard from Microsoft that Flash Player 20.0.0.272 for Windows 8.x systems will be updated on January 12th. This coincides with Microsoft's scheduled "patch Tuesday" updates.

January 12, 2016

Microsoft has made Flash Player 20.0.0.272 available for Windows 8.x systems. This update, KB3133431, has been made available to Windows 8.x users via the Windows Update mechanism.

January 19, 2016

Flash Player has been updated to address three remaining issues impacting our customers. This update, details found in our release announcement, is available for all platforms except Windows 8.x and Windows 10 ActiveX. We expect Windows 8.x and Windows 10 to be updated in our scheduled release in February (2/9/16).

We now have a test build available (link below) for those that would like to test it out. We're still investigating two unrelated issues (sound bug and a Windows 10 ActiveX issue with Skype and other applications) but we believe this release will address the embedding issue that customers have reported. Please feel free to leave a comment letting us know how this change impacts your workflow.

Flash Player ActiveX for Windows XP - Windows 7 (will not work with Windows 8 or Windows 10)

Please advise when will this 268 be pushed (clients are fuming) and also when will MS push a Windows Update to include this to fix Win8/Win10.

This potentially solves today's issue (or will soon) but, more importantly, how can we as vendors trusting in Adobe and Flash become comfortable that we won't be surprised again, and again, and again...

Need this fix for Windows 10 ASAP. Customers are threatening to ask for refunds. Needless to say that would cripple our business if not bankrupt us. Since all the products we use are Adobe (Captivate, Edge Animate, Flash Professional, Etc.) we do hold Adobe responsible for our company's troubles.

Please fix the mess you made and next time before releasing an update do some cross platform checks (at least between your own products) like any serious software company would.....

I can confirm Flash Player 20.0.0.268 Active X embedded into a C# .NET WinForm can now "load" swf movies from "http://" based URLs and also from the local disk using an absolute path (C:\\xxx\xxx\movie.swf) However, attempting to load a SWF using the "file:///" protocol doesn't seem to work. Lucky, I don't load movies this way...

All adobe staff is saying the new build will be released soon from last two days but nobody giving the exact date when they will release it. This flash issue already impacted lot of our business. You guys just released your buggy version of flash on 28th December and went for vacation. We are the people who are struggling from then and still today we did not get the fix in production. Please let us know when will you release the fix in production.

We're in the process of pushing out an update to Flash Player ActiveX for Windows XP through Windows 7 (Flash Player 20.0.0.270). We haven't forgotten about Windows 8 and 10 users and we're working closely with Microsoft to get an update out to these systems as quickly as possible. We will update this thread with additional details as soon we learn when the Windows 8 and 10 updates will be made available.

If you are using Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, please see the details below on the update process.

If you have opted into the automatic update mechanism for Flash Player, you will receive an update automatically and silently within the next 24 hours. No additional steps are required on your part. You can verify that you have auto updates turned on by going into your "Flash Player (32-bit)" control panel in the Windows Control panel and selecting the Updates tab. Make sure that "Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended)" is selected.

We are aware of this issue and I understand that it's impacting customers. You are correct, the fix we pushed today fixed just the embedding issue. I'll work on getting an update for you (and others) ASAP and add a comment to the bug report.

I have got a Windows 10 of 64 bits computer and all the webs that use adobe flash collapse, including adobe flash help -_-' . I had to download data from microsoft store but how it works with flash i cannot acces. In task manager I can see that al works good but then the web browser program stop to work.

That existing thread is the most appropriate location to post comments for that issue. Chris receives emails on every single post to the forums so he would receive a notification on a new post to that thread.

I'm not sure if there is an existing thread on that issue. A great majority of the threads since 20.0.0.267 was released where due to the embedding bug it introduced. Feel free to start a new thread. However, I do see that your bug has been looked at by QE and is in the triage queue to be reviewed further.

Conflating disparate issues in one thread results in confusion and should be avoided as much as possible.

I'm trying to verify on a Windows 7 machine that the 20.0.0.270 fix resolves our issue. Only problem is that the update to 20.0.0.270 was automatically pushed to the machine prior to verifying that things were broken! How can I revert back to 20.0.0.267 in order to do proper before/after testing of this issue? Ideally I want to see things broken using 20.0.0.267 and then working properly under 20.0.0.270.

20.0.0.267 for ActiveX is not currently posted publicly. For your verification purpose, I have uploaded the EXE & MSI to Shared Files - Acrobat.com. You will first need to uninstall 20.0.0.270 using the standalone installer (see Uninstall Flash Player for Windows) and then install the previous version. After verifying the behaviour install the new version.

Thank you @m_vargas for that download link. I was able to successfully uninstall 20.0.0.270 and replace it with 20.0.0.267, but I was unable to verify the issue being reported by our customers. In fact, further testing has shown that our issue (a crash) only happens under Windows 10. Is anybody else reporting crashes tied to 20.0.0.267 only under Windows 10? I ask because I want to have some measure of confidence that the pending 20.0.0.270 update (when deployed by Microsoft for Windows 10) will indeed fix our issue. Any insights are appreciated.

Your customers are encountering another issue (ActiveX crash on Win10) that we're also working with Microsoft on. We hope to see an update to Flash Player for this Windows 10 issue pushed to customers sometime this week. It's definitely a high priority for both Adobe and Microsoft.

Thanks for the updates. The latest version (20.0.0.270) is working for our Windows 7 users, but apparently we have a lot more Windows 10 users than I expected. Our support lines are overwhelmed with thousands of callers who are very frustrated so any new news is helpful in calming the nerves of angry clients. Please continue to keep us informed of any updates.

Chris -- thanks for the update. I indeed hope that this is the highest priority for both Adobe and Microsoft as we have thousands of customers currently impacted and this has gone on now for nearly a week! The sooner the better on pushing a fix.

The interim solution that I'm aware of is to uninstall the Dec 29 Flash Player for IE update (KB3132372) and prevent it from re-installing. I know this is not ideal, especially for customers with many systems.